The Reason is You
by The Queen's Saviour
Summary: Emma can't stand not knowing why Regina hates her so much and decides to confront her. Emma/Regina.  This is definitely NOT one of my better works, and it's my first OUaT story.


Emma threw herself on the couch that stood there so invitingly in Mary Margaret´s living room. It had been a long day. You´d think that nothing really happened in a town as small as Storybrooke, and you´d be right. It would surprise you to find out that the person who caused the most trouble was the mayor herself. At least from Emma´s perspective.

She couldn´t understand why the mayor kept causing problems for her. Emma had been sheriff for about a month now and still mayor Mills seemed to spend her days trying to find flaws with Emma that would be a good reason for getting rid of her. It frustrated Emma. She didn´t understand what she had done to make the mayor hate her so much. Sure, she was Henry´s birthmother and making an appearance back into his life would scare Regina. That much she understood. But other than that? There was nothing much she could think of. Okay, yes, she had done some things that might have upset Regina. Like maiming her beloved apple tree, or kissing Graham whom the dear mayor had been sleeping with… But was any of those things really reason enough to ruin someone's life and try to get them to leave the town as soon as possible?

Every time Emma thought things were getting better between the two of them something would happen to mess that all up again. Either Henry would disappear and Regina would blame Emma for it. Or something weird would happen to one of the people in Storybrooke and Regina would, once again, blame Emma for it.

If she had been any normal, sane person, Emma would have given up a long time ago, she'd have gone back to Boston, pick up her old life and let Regina win. But she couldn't, for a reason she didn't quite understand herself yet. She just knew that if she'd leave now, she'd regret it. And not just because she was a sore loser.

"Regina came to school today," Mary Margaret said as she closed the door behind her. She had easily spotted Emma sitting on the couch, sipping from a glass of who knew what.

"Oh, what now?" Emma looked up, put her glass of cheap whisky on the table and smiled at her roommate.

"Seems she's taking extra measures to make sure you and Henry don't spend time together," the dark haired woman took off her coat and sat down next to Emma, whose smile faded quickly.

"Of course she is, what did she do?"

"She reminded me that school time was just that, school time. And that if anyone were to disturb the children while they were learning, she'd like to know about it so she could do something about it."

Emma sighed. "This is getting borderline ridiculous! Last week she hired some babysitter to take care of Henry while she was at work. She picks him up from school every day, just so Regina knows it won't be me holding his hand as we're walking to his house."

Mary Margaret nodded and briefly touched Emma's shoulder. "I don't know how you stand it."

Emma didn't know either. How did she stand it? How could she allow someone so meaningless to play such a big part in her life? Regina was nothing to her. Nothing but a very dominant woman who obviously sought to destroy her. Emma knew that behind that beautiful face and compelling words lay a woman who was, maybe not as pure-evil as Henry tried to convince her, but definitely evil. Emma told herself repeatedly that Regina was nothing, nobody of importance and that she couldn't bother her. She told herself the mayor couldn't get to her, that she wouldn't let her. Yet she couldn't explain why the beautiful, evil mayor never quite left her thoughts. Emma just couldn't believe she was just that, evil. Nobody was just evil. There were reasons, pasts, and she was sure Regina had one.

That night, as she was tossing and turning in between her sheets, she made a decision. She'd confront the mayor the next day. Emma wanted to know what it was she had done to make Regina hate her so much. Then, thinking of the pretty woman, she fell asleep.

* * *

><p>"I'm going to see Regina today," Emma stated as she joined Mary Margaret at the breakfast table. She poured herself a cup of coffee and filled a cereal bowl.<p>

"Are you sure you want to do that?"

"Yes. I want to know why she insists on making my life here a living hell." Emma was convinced of her decision, she was going to do it, no matter what her roommate thought.

"She's not going to tell you if she doesn't want you to know. Emma, you'll just make things more difficult for yourself if you deliberately seek an argument with her."

She was right. Emma knew it. But she wanted to know. She had to know! _So she could change it…_

This was the end of their short conversation, Mary Margaret admitted defeat and decided to let Emma find out for herself that this would probably come back to bite her.

After they finished the slightly awkward breakfast Emma went up to her room to decide on her clothing for the day. She wanted to wear something that screamed 'I'm a responsible adult and I can take care of myself and the people I care about!' On the other hand she also wanted to wear something that would impress Regina. She didn't understand what she was feeling whenever she thought of the woman, but decided to just have faith in it and follow her instincts, for they had never been wrong before.

She didn't want to feel anything other than animosity towards the mayor, but she knew very well that it was impossible to switch off whatever feelings she might have. If she were to ever fall in love with this woman, which she deemed very unlikely, then there was nothing she could do about it. She was, however, ready to admit there was a sort of attraction there. Regina was a beautiful woman and Emma couldn't deny her incapability of looking away whenever she was in the same room as the mayor. But she couldn't let that stand in the way of what she was about to do. She couldn't be a softy now. Because Regina was very much above that and wouldn't fall for it. Emma had to be at least as dominant as her, if she wanted her audience.

Before she took off she called to Regina's office, to see if she was in. Luckily, her assistant informed Emma that Regina was working from home today. This was a good thing, Emma reasoned. Henry would be at school and they'd have the house to themselves. Which meant that if there was going to be a fight, nobody would hear.

Emma hadn't even knocked the door yet when it opened and revealed all that was Madam Mayor. Suddenly she forgot what she came here for, what she wanted to tell Regina, ask her. She could just stand there and look at the woman who stood before her, in her very businesslike 'suit', staring down at her.

"Miss Swan? Can I help you with something?" Ever polite with her words, though her eyes seemed to tell a different story entirely. Emma studied them for half a second and found nothing but anger and hatred. That's when she started doubting her actions, she shouldn't have come. Mary Margaret was right, nothing was going to change because Regina was a cold, heartless bitch and she didn't want Emma in her life, or Henry's. She was the boss of this town, she ran it. She could make anyone do her bidding and no matter what Emma would say, she wouldn't give in. But Emma also knew that she had to do this. Even if it would turn out to be useless. She'd regret it if she didn't. She had to at least ask.

"I… I wanted to talk to you," Emma said, her voice not as strong as it had been when she had practiced this in front of her mirror.

"Is this about anything concerning Storybrooke?" Regina's voice was cold, she wanted nothing to do with Emma, that much was obvious.

"No. This is a personal matter, and I would like to discuss it with you, but not here, on your porch, for the whole town to see." Emma willed herself to be confident now; she'd need that if she wanted the stoic mayor to listen to her.

"Very well, we'll discuss it in my office." Regina turned around and entered the house, no 'come in' whatsoever. Emma just followed, closed the door and stayed behind Regina.

"So, what is it you wanted to… talk about?" Regina asked as she sat down on a chair behind her desk. Emma wasn't sure if she should sit down, too, or just stay as she was, standing in front of the grotesque desk that held a few picture frames and lots of paperwork.

"Why do you hate me so much?" She decided it would probably be better to sit down and so she did. She moved her chair so that she was in a good position where she wasn't completely in one line with the mayor, but also didn't close herself off. She knew something about body language, and she knew she was using it correctly.

"Excuse me?" Regina said, no hint of humour on her face.

"You heard me."

"Yes, I assumed you were joking."

"I wasn't."

"Clearly." Regina put some of the papers that were scattered all over the desk together in a neat pile and put it to the side of her desk. "I'm sure if you think hard enough you can come up with the answer to that question, miss Swan. You might not be too responsible but I don't think you're stupid."

Emma wasn't sure if this was meant to be a compliment or an insult. So she decided not to comment on it at all. "I have thought about this, trust me, but I can't come up with anything I did that would make you this hostile to me."

"Miss Swan you have entered our lives uninvited and continue to make appearances. You gave up Henry a long time ago claiming you never wanted anything to do with him and now you have come back here in an attempt to take him from me. Excuse me but I think that is reason enough to not appreciate your presence here in Storybrooke." Regina's voice had raised a little as she spoke and she visibly tried to calm herself down again.

"I'm not trying to take him away from you. I didn't go looking for him, he found _me_. I thought it would be the responsible thing to bring him back here, to you, instead of buying him a bus ticket back to wherever he came from. Yes, I have stayed, but not because I want to take this whole thing to court and gain custody over him." Emma remained calm, she understood why Regina would think these were her intentions. She would probably have assumed the same thing.

"Why then? Why are you still here? Why won't you leave us alone and just get back to your life in Boston?"

Emma saw that Regina was genuinely interested, and Emma was grateful that so far, this conversation had been civilized. For the first time they hadn't been outright screaming to each other.

"Well… I'm sheriff now, so I can't just up and leave," Emma said, attempting a bit of humour. It obviously didn't work because Regina's facial expression didn't change one bit.

"Okay I admit, after meeting Henry it has been difficult for me to just let him go again. I just got to know him a little and… other people, too. I'm not sure I can leave everything behind."

"So… this is not just about Henry then, is it?"

"No. I made friends here…" Emma almost whispered. She had also developed something of a crush (for a lack of better word) on Regina. Obviously, she wasn't going to disclose this information.

"Miss Blanchard." Regina concluded, with a tone of voice which gave nothing away.

"Yes. Look, I know I did some things to you that I shouldn't have done, and you have reason to dislike me, I know that. And I accept it if you do. But I have done nothing to give you reason to hate me the way you do."

"You cut down my tree! You took Graham from me and you have taken his place as sheriff. You don't belong here, miss Swan. You were never meant to be a part of this town."

"What do you mean?" Emma didn't understand. Her thoughts immediately went to Henry's book, and his fairy tale theory. 'If I'm Snow White's kid, why wouldn't I belong here?' she thought.

"I'm sure people have told you that nobody comes to Storybrooke. They were right. Nobody does. The people who live here have been here for as long as any of us can remember. Nobody comes here and stays here. It doesn't happen. Yet here you are."

"Right…" Emma sighed, inaudibly. "Well, I'll just leave you to your work now, I think I have imposed on you enough for one day," Emma stood up and made to leave the room.

"Wait, I'll see you out," Regina also stood up and followed Emma downstairs. Right as Emma moved to open the front door Regina slipped in front of her and put her weight against it, making it impossible for Emma to leave.

"Miss Swan, why did you want to know all this?" Her face, again betrayed no emotion, her eyes, however, were curious.

"It kept me up at night. And I didn't get it. I still don't get it. And you're obviously not going to give me a proper reason…" Emma trailed off and looked away from the beauty in front of her. The look on Regina's face was foreign to her and Emma was afraid she'd do something stupid now that the mayor wasn't looking at her with contempt.

"I would, but I don't think I can…" Regina's voice was quiet, as if she didn't really want Emma to hear what she had to say.

"Sure you can, you just won't." Emma looked at Regina expectantly, waiting for her to move aside so she could leave.

"Look I'm sorry for everything I did to make you dislike me. I shouldn't have cut down your apple tree and I shouldn't have let Graham kiss me. I am not sorry for wanting to be a part of Henry's life, though. And I'm also not sorry for liking… the people of Storybrooke. I'm not going to leave." Emma had regained a bit of her confidence now, Regina didn't look lethal and she had no fear of her lashing out now.

"Everybody leaves, except those who have always been here." Regina's voice was still very quiet and a subtle look of sadness now took over. Before Emma could really respond to it, however, Regina had opened the front door and looked at Emma expectantly, waiting for her to leave.

"I'm not. Leaving, that is." Emma now wondered if that was what Regina was afraid of, that one day everybody in Storybrooke would realize their lives sucked and would pack and leave this town. That Regina would stay behind, alone. Emma wondered if Regina really wanted her to leave… Which was a stupid thought, of course. Because Emma knew that was exactly what Regina wanted.

"Good. We'll see how long you can keep that up, Emma."

Emma had already left the house but turned around at hearing the mayor call her by her name, instead of Miss Swan or Sheriff.

When she had turned around she saw Regina smiling a little. A look of relief on her face. Emma took a few steps back, so that she was right in front of the mayor.

"Miss Swan?"

"Do you really want me to go? Is it truly your wish that I leave and never return?"

"Haven't my actions proven your oh-so-cleverly-come-up-with theory already?" she asked, her voice back to the disdainful mayor the whole town knew.

"Your bullying behaviour would just have made me more eager to stay. You might have known that when you came up with this plan…" Emma's voice was now soft, she hadn't moved one inch, neither had Regina. They were still very close to one another and neither of them looked like they minded terribly.

"Well, yes, that might have been the case."

"So… do you want me to leave Storybrooke, Regina?" Emma asked again, now looking up to meet Regina's eyes.

"Not immediately," Regina smiled and made to turn around. Emma was faster, and grabbed the mayor by her wrist and turned her back around.

"I don't want you to leave, either," Emma whispered, then she moved a little closer to the dark haired beauty and their lips met in a soft, experimental kiss.

-FIN-


End file.
